Saturday, May 16, 2009

Eurovision 2009 - As It Happens

Eurovision 2009 is about to start. I'll update this post periodically throughout the evening. France have had the best song by miles for the past two years, neither of which got anywhere at all (last year's entry was the fantastic Sebastien Tellier’s ‘Divine’). I haven't heard the French effort for this year yet. The UK's song is quite strong (in Eurovision terms). There is a new voting system designed to combat political and tactical voting, but I'm doubtful it will make any difference. Anyway, here we go...

*

OK, after 5 songs, Israel should be way out in the lead. A catchy song. Croatia lead in the bombastic nonsense award. Sweden's operatic disco thing was simply ridiculous. France may as well forget it for this year.

*

On the 10 song mark: Greece may win the award for Stupidest Dance and Male Ego, but there's still time. Armenia have taken over in pole position for the Bombast award. The host nation, Russia, have a truly awful entry. My daughter (7) reckons Iceland are the best, but I still prefer Isarel.

*

Azerbaijan got a standing ovation. Who knows why? Bosnia & Herzegovina were hilariously bad but, unfortunately, not so bad that it was good, if you know what I mean. Moldova have won the Stupidest Dance award. Surely no one can beat that. Malta were crap. A poor section, this one. Thanks, ABJ, for the entertainment in the comments box, by the way!

*

Now at song 20. What were Germany doing? A woman came on and drew a whip, but for no apparent reason. Weird. Terrible song too. Turkey will win the Shakira Impersonation Award. Must be in with a chance of the real prize too. What was going on with Albania? There was a guy dressed in a weird green mask/costume and also men who looked like they'd got lost on their way to a circus peformance. Awful song. But they win the Unintentionally Funny Performance Award. Norway may be the favourite but it's the kind of song that would drive me crazy if I heard it more than once.

*

That's all 25 songs performed. Someone in Ukraine must have decided that it would be a great idea for their backing singers to appear as semi-clad Roman soldiers. I think they might regret that decision. Jade did her stuff for the UK, with Andrew Lloyd-Webber on piano. It's the kind of ballad that might feature in an X-Factor final. Perhaps that's the psychology. People feel they have to pick up the phone and vote. Nothing much else of note. Finland were disappointing. For some reason, my daughter liked the Spanish entry. I think that might be because she likes Spain, rather than the song as such.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I like the Armenian song, nice folk melodies and syncopation, good vocals, almost Dead Can Dance-y.

Think the UK are going to get humped as usual ... stupendously banal me-me-me lyric so common in song contests these days, about how wonderful it would be .. to win a song contest. See American Idol season 6, "This Is My Now", etc. My this my that. Whatever happened to songs about world peace and puppets?

I watched it for the first time in about 30 years and was surprised that I did like some of them (well, a little bit...nothing I'd rush to listen to again). The UK song was dire - I felt sorry for that poor lass having to sing it and look pleased. It reminded me of Martine McCutcheon's 'Perfect Moment'...but even worse and more annoying (quite an achievement).

But yes - much horror elsewhere too. And you're right about Shakira - absolutely. You wouldn't think she needed the work.

About Me

I'm from Scotland. My chapbook poetry collection, 'The Clown of Natural Sorrow' was published in December 2005 by HappenStance Press. 'The Opposite of Cabbage', my first full-length collection, was published by Salt in 2009. Another chapbook, 'Fleck and the Bank' (also Salt), came out in May 2012. My second collection, 'The Good News' was published in April 2013. I read, write and review poetry.